Xavier Musketeers vs Villanova Wildcats Prediction, 1/7/2023 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Xavier Musketeers vs Villanova Wildcats

Date: Saturday, January 7, 2023

Location: Finneran Pavilion in Villanova, PA

TV: Youtube TV

The Villanova Wildcats (7-7) will play the Xavier Musketeers (12-3) at Finneran Pavilion on Saturday.

The Xavier Musketeers played Connecticut and earned the victory with a final of 83-73 in their last contest. Regarding personal fouls, the Musketeers left the arena with 9 while Connecticut totaled 21 personal fouls. They also made 13 out of their 37 tries from 3-point range. Connecticut finished the game shooting 44.4% at the free throw line by knocking down 4 of 9 tries. On top of that, Connecticut pulled down 36 boards (11 offensive, 25 defensive), but wrapped up the game with no rejections. Connecticut recorded 23 assists and had 6 steals for the contest. In terms of defending, Xavier let their opponent shoot 41.8% from the field on 28 of 67 shooting. They also recorded 20 assists for this contest while forcing 16 turnovers and getting 11 steals. In the matter of hauling in rebounds, they compiled 30 with 4 of them being of the offensive sort. From the free throw line, the Musketeers converted 23 of 28 shots for a rate of 82.1%. Xavier finished the contest having earned a 53.8% field goal percentage (28 of 52) and converted 4 of their 13 shots from beyond the arc.

Zach Freemantle is a guy who was a factor for the game. He finished with 16 points on 6 of 11 shooting. He played for 36 minutes played and also snagged 11 rebounds. He finished shooting 54.5% from the field and also dished out 5 assists.

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Xavier will enter this contest with a win-loss mark of 12-3 on the season. They are averaging 83.8 points per game (13th in college basketball) while connecting on 50.8% from the field. The Musketeers are shooting 40.4% on shots from beyond the arc (111 of 275) and 72.6% from the free throw line. As a team, Xavier is collecting 37.6 rebounds per game and has earned 315 assists for the year, which has them ranked 1st in the country in terms of passing the ball. They turn it over 14.0 times per game and as a group are committing 16.9 personal fouls every game.

When they are on defense, the Musketeers are forcing their opponents into 13.9 turnovers per game while drawing 19.0 fouls. They are 331st in D-1 in giving up assists to their opponents with 227 surrendered so far this year. The Musketeers defense is allowing a field goal percentage of 43.9% (407 of 928) and they relinquish 32.0 boards per contest as a group. They give up 37.1% on 3-pointers and they rank 303rd in D-1 in points per game allowed (73.9).

The last time they took the court, the Villanova Wildcats went home victorious with a score of 73-57 when they faced Georgetown. The Wildcats snagged 27 defensive rebounds and 5 offensive boards for a total of 32 for this game. They also gave up possession of the ball 9 times, while recording 9 steals in this matchup. Georgetown earned 14 fouls for the contest which got the Wildcats to the free throw line for 18 attempts. They were able to convert 18 of them for a rate of 100.0%. In regard to shooting from downtown, Villanova converted 9 of 27 tries (33.3%). When the final whistle blew, the Wildcats finished 23 for 54 from the field which gave them a percentage of 42.6%. The Wildcats allowed Georgetown to convert 21 of their 59 tries from the field which gave them a rate of 35.6% for this game. They wrapped up this game 20.0% from distance by shooting 4 out of 20 and finished the game at 11 of 16 from the free throw line (68.8%). When talking about team rebounding, Villanova permitted Georgetown to snag 31 in total (10 on the offensive glass).

Caleb Daniels ended up being a major contributor for the Wildcats in the matchup. He totaled 20 points in his 36 mins of playing time and had 2 dimes in this game. He made 6 out of 15 in this matchup giving him a rate of 40.0%, and had 6 rebounds.

Villanova has a record of 7-7 for the season. As an offensive unit, the Wildcats are shooting 43.7% from the field, which is ranked 232nd in the country. Villanova has earned 991 points on the campaign (70.8 per contest) and they collect 32.2 rebounds per game. They are getting an assist 12.0 times per contest (286th in the country) and they are turning it over 10.1 times per contest. The Wildcats are responsible for committing 15.5 personal fouls every game and they shoot 84.2% from the charity stripe.

The Villanova defense concedes 34.8% on shots from beyond the perimeter (122 of 351) and opponents are knocking down 74.6% of their free throw attempts. They surrender 14.9 assists and 33.1 total rebounds per game, which ranks them 316th and 118th in Division 1. The Wildcats are ranked 146th in the country in points per game surrendered with 67.6. They are able to force 11.6 turnovers per game and have let teams shoot 43.3% from the floor (216th in D-1).

Who will win tonight's NCAA basketball game against the spread?

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take Villanova

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